Petals and Patisseries  – Jason Todd x Reader

forthemultiverse:

Request: by @natasha-baggins: Could you please do this prompt with Jason? “This really cute guy rented the apartment over the bakery/flower shop/store I work at and I keep trying to find excuses to be outside when he comes home”
– Hope you like it, this prompt was really cute so enjoy 😂

You were hopeless romantic, and you most definitely believe in love at first sight. Your friend, however, preferred to call it

“Damn, he cute!”

And to be fair, at first you thought that title might have fit your crush a little bit more accurately. That’s why you’d called said friend in to help you out,

“This really cute guy rented the apartment opposite the patisserie, and I need excuses to be outside when he walks past!” you yelled down the phone, and she was there within five minutes.

She’d been a bit useless in the end. She just kept giving you really lame excuses to be outside, even pushing you out of the door once just because it looked like the guy was about to walk past. All it resulted in was you on the floor and him popping into the shop next door. She also suggested making a sign about how cute guys with black hair get a discount. You’d pointed out how that would mean any guy with black hair who thought he was cute would try and get a discount.

“Tell them cute is subjective and you don’t agree then.”

“But that’s mean!”

“Oh! set out a taster shop outside to both attract customers and put you on display.”

“What about when it’s hot, then I’ll be all sweaty if he actually came over.”

“Break the crossing lights and offer to help people cross so you can be on his side of the road too, and he’ll see you being a good person, which would make you even more appealing.”

“Or something that couldn’t get me potentially arrested?”

You didn’t know the person’s name, but you knew he was moving into the apartment opposite the patisserie you worked in when you first saw him. Well, kind of opposite. Opposite the patisserie was a bookshop, and he lived above the bookshop. You also knew he never closed his blinds, and you knew that because you had a perfect view of his apartment. You didn’t want to feel like a creepy weirdo, but you couldn’t stop yourself from looking up occasionally, and if you happened to see the lights turn off, it wasn’t your fault if you managed to be standing in the doorway of the patisserie when he made it to the street, and you totally didn’t laugh awkwardly loud in hopes of getting him to look up and see you. Sometimes you’d even find a way to be walking into the bookshop in hopes of bumping into him. The Mailman would often deliver the mail wrong, so it never hurt to check in with the bookshop.

The relationship changed one afternoon though. You didn’t know what happened, but you saw him bleeding through the window. He looked pissed and was stomping up and down, and your kind-hearted soul couldn’t let a cute guy angry march back and forth. So, you gave the mailman a bag with a chocolate croissant and a note to deliver.

‘Today isn’t your day

Don’t let that get you down

You’re cute, if I may say

Even when you frown.’

You didn’t sign it since you didn’t necessarily want him to be able to trace it back to you. He might think you were some creepy stalker watching him through his window. You noticed him walk towards the window, holding the bag, and he looked down and the patisserie. You quickly looked away. Pushing around the flowers in the vase like you were trying to rearrange them. You took a quick glance up and noticed the guy smiling slightly as he ate. You’d made his day a little better, and that was a nice feeling. Whether he was a cute boy or not.
It became a small tradition for you, whenever he seemed particularly angry when he walked past, or if you could see he was injured through the window, you’d send up some kind of pastry with an attempt at a poem. You’d always been fond of reading and poetry. This way you got to seem cute without having to sprint out of the building ever time someone that looked remotely like him walked past.

One day you received a large flower bouquet from the delivery mail, your co-worker smiling smugly at you and starting to tease you about a secret admirer. The Note read;

For all the free pastries; ‘Never trust anybody who has not bought a book with them.’ – Jason

You recognised the quote as a Lemony Snicket one, your headshot to the apartment window, the guy staring down at you. He waved, and you went slightly red.

The next pastry you sent up was met with flowers, a pattern which grew till he was sending you flowers with book quotes before you sent him anything at all. A hot guy who also sent flowers, you couldn’t blame yourself for falling for him, even without speaking to him face to face.

Jason knew sending the flowers helped him feel better. He wasn’t sure if it was seeing a smile and knowing he’d caused it for once, or if it was because you were pretty and you seemed to think he was too, but interacting with you through cutesy poems made him relax. He also felt kind of bad, he was just an angry person, and if you were just going to send him something every time you saw him looking anything but happy, you were going to be spending a lot of money on someone who he didn’t think deserved it. He’d also started making sure he appeared to be in a good mood every time he passed the patisserie so you wouldn’t send anything. It wasn’t that he wanted it to stop, he just didn’t want you to send him stuff because he had a resting bitch face. He certainly wasn’t going to stop posting flowers. Thinking of quotes from books always made him feel happy, and maybe Dick was right, being happy wasn’t such a bad thing.

People had noticed too. Dick had questioned why he sounded lighter over the comm, and Tim had asked why he was in one place so much. They all knew Jason was one for moving around and keeping busy. No attachments. But if he’d never actually managed to speak to you in person, did you count as an attachment?

He was watching his phone and the window. He’d sent another batch of flowers today, but the notes had his number attached. That way the pair of you could actually talk, and he was also sure that by now you’d have so many flowers you wouldn’t have space for anything else. If you were just a nice person trying to make his day better, you didn’t need to respond to the text, and he would leave you alone. If you were actually interested in him, he could feel that relaxed from anywhere.

An unknown number sent him ‘Hey xx, you’re Jason?’

He gripped his phone. With all the other girls who’d given him their number, he’d never called back. That stuff didn’t fit with his lifestyle, flirting was for his brothers. But screw them, why couldn’t he try it out. He sent a text back, saying hi and that he was going away for a bit and couldn’t send any flowers, just to see if you would respond.

He didn’t expect to spend that entire evening texting you about normal things like books and movies. Or favourite colours, or food. He didn’t think he’d spend hours just texting you and feeling like he’d known you for a lifetime after.

There wasn’t a break in the conversation, even when he flew abroad to deal with something Roy had gotten himself into. The Red Hood could do his job, but Jason could smile at his phone while his best friend thought he was insane. Roy would hear him talking on the phone for at least an hour each night, despite the fact whoever he was talking to lived in America and they were in Paris. He also started to ask questions when he caught Jason sending pictures of places in the town.

“A girl?” he assumed, “Or guy, I don’t know how you swing.”

“A girl,” Jason smiled.

“And when do I get to meet her?”

“After I do.”

“You haven’t met her?”

“She works opposite my apartment.” Jason motioned to the phone. “We exchanged numbers cos I needed to come help you out.”

“Are you trying to blame me for your lack of dates?”

“Everyone seems to think we’re a pair, couldn’t leave you out here.”

“You haven’t spoken to her in person…” Roy tutted and laughed slightly

“We’ve spoken loads!”

“I noticed.”

“Haven’t actually been out or spoken face to face yet…”

“And I thought your game was strong.” Roy scoffed

“My game is strong!”

“Then why haven’t you asked her out yet? And I don’t count as a reason.”

“I don’t know…”

“Well hurry it up because I can hear you texting even when you’re wearing the helmet and whipped doesn’t suit you. I’ll even do it for you if you’re scared!”

“I’m not scared!”

“Uh-huh. Do you need me to give you a list of excuses you can give to be outside so you can actually talk to her.”

“What?”

“Like, oh yeah, I was just getting the mail, so I thought I’d grab yours for you.”

“My mail is in an apartment building, her’s is in the street.”

“It would show you care.” Jason glared. “Fine, I think you dropped this on the street, then hand her, her bag or something.”

“And how would I get her bag.”

“Steal it?”

“Dating tips with Roy, steal her stuff, so you have an excuse to talk to her in person.”

Jason’s phone started ringing, your caller ID appearing on the front.

“Does she know you’re the Red Hood.”

“Nope.”

“Going to tell her?”

“Not yet.”

“Why not?”

“It’s nice to just be the cute guy that sends flowers and talks about books for once.”

“I get that, but if you keep this relationship up, you’re going to have to take her on a date, and you’re going to have to tell her.”

“She won’t like Red Hood.”

“The Red Hood and Jason Todd are the same, remember, if she likes one then she likes the other.”

“Or I could just never tell her.”

“You have to tell her.”

“Eventually.”

– I didn’t follow the prompt to a tee, but I hope you still like it – Scarlett xx